The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Mandevilla plant, botanically known as Mandevilla hybrid, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Red Velvet Petitexe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hawthorne, Fla. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new compact Mandevilla cultivars with attractive and unique flower colors.
The new cultivar originated from a cross-pollination of the Mandevilla hybrid cultivar PSJAM LP1, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,611, as the female, or seed, parent with an unnamed selection of Mandevilla hybrid, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent in Hawthorne, Fla., in November, 1996. The new cultivar was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny from this cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Hawthorne, Fla., in 1999. The new cultivar was selected on the basis of its compact growth habit.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Hawthorne, Fla, since spring, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Mandevilla are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Red Velvet Petite have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity, daylength, humidity, water status and/or fertilizer rate and type without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Red Velvet Petitexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinquish xe2x80x98Red Velvet Pettitexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact growth habit.
2. Short internodes.
3. Relatively small, glossy, dark green leaves.
4. Flowers that are dark pink in color when temperatures are less than 29xc2x0 C. and intensify to red in color when temperatures are greater than 29xc2x0 C.
5. Tolerance to low and high temperatures.
Plants of the new Mandevilla differ primarily from plants of the female parent cultivar PSJAM LP1 in flower color as flowers of plants of the cultivar PSJAM LP1 are light pink in color. In addition, in side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hawthorne, Fla., plants of the new cultivar had smaller leaves and shorter internodes than plants of the cultivar PSJAM LP1. Plants of the new cultivar differ from plants of the male selection primarily in flower color.
Plants of the new Mandevilla can be compared to plants of the cultivar Red Velvet, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/664,134. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hawthorne, Fla., plants of the new Mandevilla had smaller leaves, shorter internodes and smaller and fewer flowers than plants of the cultivar Red Velvet.
Plants of the new Mandevilla can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Alice DuPont, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hawthorne, Fla., plants of the new Mandevilla had smaller leaves, shorter internodes and smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Alice DuPont. In addition, plants of the new cultivar and the cultivar Alice DuPont differ in flower color.